My rooster is mounting but my eggs are infertile...

My rooster is mounting but my eggs don't seem to be fertile... he is about 3-4 months old.
He is a Welsummer rooster, what's going on?

Bantam Girl said:

My rooster is mounting but my eggs don't seem to be fertile... he is about 3-4 months old.
He is a Welsummer rooster, what's going on?

Click to expand...

Bantam Girl said:

My rooster is mounting but my eggs don't seem to be fertile... he is about 3-4 months old.
He is a Welsummer rooster, what's going on?

Click to expand...

3 to 4 months is a bit young yet. Give him some time. (At least till six months ) How old are your pullets? Are you sure your eggs aren't fertile? While I normally wouldn't do it, after I lost my less than five month old cockerel in an accident I set some eggs a week after his death not expecting much and five of ten hatched.

One of my cockerels (young rooster) is 10 months old. He is so clumsy and mates shoulders and necks instead of where he's supposed to. Anyway, he was six months old before he mated the right way. I got seven chicks out of 18 eggs then. Two months later I got 20 out of 30 from him. Like dekel18042 said, give him time. He's still so very young. Some of my pullets (young hens) didn't evel lay eggs until they wre eight months old, others started at 18 weeks. It all depends on the bird.

One of my cockerels has been successfully breeding hens since he was 12 weeks old. My adult rooster still has trouble hitting the right spot. It's all normal.

I'm pretty sure they aren't fertile I incubated 6 and saw no development so I cracked them at. Day 11. My pullets are about 5 months old now.

Ok I will, I also tried "milking" him to see if he was producing didn't get anything from him or my other 4 roosters.

Is this normal that the 4 other rooster are not fertile even though they are different breeds but the same age?

Bantam Girl said:

I'm pretty sure they aren't fertile I incubated 6 and saw no development so I cracked them at. Day 11. My pullets are about 5 months old now.

Click to expand...

Hi, welcome to BYC!

Honestly, it's a bad ideal to hatch pullet eggs anyways. Their systems are still getting themselves figured out. All kinds of hiccups can happen. And the eggs aren't usually their full size to meet their breed standard yet. If you hatch small eggs you get small chicks which leads to small adults. IMO

@dekel18042 In humans I thought they egg IS the fertility... How can an egg be infertile in and of itself? Non fertility means NO eggs, doesn't it?

Your cockerel, probably hasn't even learned to sing and dance for the ladies yet. Or call them to treats. He still has a long way to mature and so do your girls. I would just slow my roll if it were me! He hasn't even reached the point to show human aggression... his hormones are still developing and changing from week to week.

Are you going to be eating your hatched boys? Sounds like you need to get some experience with your young flock before going all in and ending up with a nightmare in another 20 weeks when half your hatch turns into hormone raging teenage boys.

Your last question actually shows me that your nightmare is going to be here sooner than you realize!!!!

Boys and girls develop at different rates. And different breeds like you say develop earlier. My FBCM were trying to breed by 16 weeks, but my SF boys are 20 weeks and not ready yet.

Once all those boys hit puberty, if you don't cull them or separate them from the girls... they will chasing, pulling feathers, mounting (many boys on 1 girl at the same time all pecking her to). It will become relentless and the girls will be screaming often. 2 of my girls are missing chunks of their combs that will never grow back because 1 of my boys hadn't yet learned his manners.

If you are breeding something you need them to grow out and choose only the best to breed. Hap hazzardly like you are doing will probably end up with bad genetics and poor viability and disease resistance.

I only say these things because they are true, not because I don't want you hatching. It's nothing personal, just words of wisdom. Hope you consider it seriously.

I am, I will wait a few more months then check for fertility don't worry my roos are all housed separately, I will also pick the best, which is probably my Rhode Island Red.
Thanks for all the advice!